Braves Stat of the Day: May 2021

June 1st, 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Braves this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

May 31: Braves 5, Nationals 3 -- Acuña's 16th HR
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his 16th homer of the season, joining Hank Aaron (three times), Ryan Klesko, Andres Galarraga and Dale Murphy as the only Braves who have reached that total through the first 51 games of a season during the Atlanta era, which dates back to 1966. Nobody has matched the 18 homers Aaron hit through the first 51 games of that inaugural season in Atlanta.

May 29: Mets 13, Braves 2 -- Tagged for double-digit runs
With their bullpen depth once again exposed in Saturday night's loss to the Mets, the Braves have now allowed a double-digit runs total six times this year. This matches the Tigers and Reds for the most in the Majors.

May 26: Red Sox 9, Braves 5 -- Smyly's unfortunate start
Drew Smyly surrendered two more homers on Wednesday and has now allowed a MLB-high 13 home runs (tied with the Tigers' Tarik Skubal). The only Braves pitchers who have ever allowed more homers through eight starts are Mike Foltynewicz (15 in 2019), Phil Niekro (14 in 1970) and Lew Burdette (14 in 1963).

May 25: Braves 3, Red Sox 1 -- One run or less
Charlie Morton extended the starting rotation's recent success with seven strong innings. The Braves have allowed one run or zero runs over each of their past four games. This is the team's longest such streak since doing so over five straight games from Aug. 20-24, 2018.

May 23: Braves 7, Pirates 1 -- Riley in legendary company
While notching his second multihomer game of the weekend, Austin Riley became the first Braves third baseman since Chipper Jones to hit two homers and collect at least five RBIs in a game. Jones last did so in an 8-7 win over the Brewers on June 7, 2009. Jones finished a double shy of the cycle in that game.

May 22: Braves 6, Pirates 1 -- Albies switches it up
In the bottom of the fifth, Ozzie Albies, batting left-handed, hit a two-run homer over the right-field wall. In the bottom of the seventh, Albies stepped up to the right side of the plate and crushed his second home run of the game to give him nine on the season. This marks the sixth multihomer game of the switch-hitter's career and the second time he has homered from both sides of the plate. This is the 14th time in franchise history that a hitter has homered from both sides of the plate, with the last time coming from Albies on July 11, 2018, against the Blue Jays.

May 21: Braves 20, Pirates 1 -- Braves rain homers
Among the Braves’ 20 hits were seven home runs -- including grand slams off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. and pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza. The seven dingers were the third-highest single-game total in franchise history. The only time the Braves have hit more homers in a game since moving to Atlanta was on May 28, 2006, in a 13-12 win over the Cubs. Edgar Renteria and Adam LaRoche each homered twice in that game.

May 20: Pirates 6, Braves 4 -- Following Willson's footsteps
William Contreras hit a three-run home run in the second inning on Thursday night. Contreras tallied this fourth home run in his 54th career at-bat. His brother Willson, the Cubs' All-Star catcher, hit his fourth career homer in his 51st at-bat.

May 19: Braves 5, Mets 4 -- Morton helps his cause
Charlie Morton provided six strong innings and contributed an RBI single to fuel the three-run fifth that helped the Braves win. This was Morton's first RBI since he helped the Pirates beat the Padres on May 30, 2015. It was his first RBI hit since he drove Josh Harrison home with a single during Pittsburgh's win over Miami on Aug. 7, 2013.

May 18: Mets 4, Braves 3 -- Tied after eight innings
The Braves are now a MLB-worst 0-8 when tied after eight innings. The only other club that has gone winless in such games is the Red Sox, who are 0-3. The Braves were a MLB-best 21-11 in these games from 2018-20.

May 17: Mets 3, Braves 1 -- Austin Riley's rise
Riley hit his fourth homer in Monday's loss and is hitting .292 with an .819 OPS. He was hitting .190 with a .261 on-base percentage after an April 15 game against the Marlins. But since April 16, Riley has hit .341 (30-for-88) with a MLB-best .464 on-base percentage and a .987 OPS.

May 16: Brewers 10, Braves 9 -- Rare loss with nine runs
When their big comeback fell short in a 10-9 loss to the Brewers on Sunday, the Braves experienced a rare loss. Going back to 2018, when they won the first of their three consecutive National League East titles, the Braves had been 61-2 when scoring nine runs or more. This was just their third loss when scoring at least nine runs over the past four seasons.

May 15: Braves 5, Brewers 1 -- Freeman reaches milestone
Freddie Freeman made history yet again with a two-run shot to left-center field to forever put his name in the record books with 250 career home runs. Freeman had struggled at the plate in May, entering Saturday's matchup with only seven hits and a .163 average (7-for-43). Despite his woes, nearly a third of his hits this season have been homers. He is tied for second in home runs (10) and tied for third in walks (25) in the National League.

May 14: Braves 6, Brewers 3 -- Back-to-back blasts
Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies tallied the Braves' first back-to-back homers in 2021. So, it took Atlanta 38 games to do this for the first time. They totaled four back-to-back homers last year, including two within the season's first 32 games. Those two back-to-back shots were produced by Ozuna and Travis d'Arnaud against Philadelphia's Aaron Nola on Aug. 21, and Ender Inciarte and Austin Riley against Philadelphia's Adam Morgan on Aug. 29.

May 13: Blue Jays 8, Braves 4 -- Striking first
With a pair of first-inning runs Thursday, Atlanta now leads the Majors with 34. Ronald Acuña Jr.'s leadoff homer was Atlanta's 14th first-inning home run, which also leads MLB. The Braves have scored 20 percent (34 of 167) of their runs in the opening inning this year.

May 12: Blue Jays 4, Braves 1 -- Interleague woes
The Braves have now lost each of the five games played against the Blue Jays and six of seven games played against American League teams this year. Since 2014, they have gone 63-84 in Interleague games. Their .429 winning percentage is the third-worst during this span, trumping only those produced by the White Sox (.408) and Reds (.381).

May 11: Blue Jays 5, Braves 3 -- Too many blown leads
As the Braves surrendered three runs in the eighth inning, they created further concern about their bullpen. They are now 14-3 when leading after seven innings. They were 23-0 in such games last year.

May 9: Braves 6, Phillies 1 -- Ynoa's hitting streak
Huascar Ynoa didn't homer in a third straight game, but he did stretch his hitting streak to four games with a fifth-inning single. Ynoa's hitting streak is the longest by a Braves pitcher since Max Fried hit in four straight games from July 27-Aug. 18, 2019. No Atlanta pitcher has hit in five straight games since Tim Hudson in 2010. Ynoa is 6-for-10 with two homers during his streak.

May 8: Braves 8, Phillies 7 (12 innings) -- Sandoval's pinch-hit homers
Pablo Sandoval came off the bench to hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning. Sandoval has tied the franchise's single-season record with four pinch-hit home runs. He's needed just 17 pinch-hit at-bats to tie the record with Tommy Gregg (1990), Johan Camargo (2019) and Evan Gattis (2013).

May 7: Phillies 12, Braves 2 -- Contreras' hot start
William Contreras has eight hits through his first eight career games. The only Braves catcher to record more hits in that span since the team moved to Atlanta was Evan Gattis, who tallied 10 hits within his first eight games. Contreras' total matched Brian McCann's.

May 6: Braves 3, Nationals 2 -- Two-out runs
Ehire Adrianza's decisive two-out, two-run single in Thursday's win over the Nationals continued an encouraging trend. The Braves have now scored a MLB-best 70 runs with two outs. The Dodgers rank second with 67. Atlanta also leads the Majors with 19 two-out homers.

May 5: Braves 5, Nationals 3 -- Marcell Ozuna's grand slam
Huascar Ynoa hit a grand slam in Tuesday night's series opener, and Marcell Ozuna added one in Wednesday's win at Nationals Park. It marked the first time the Braves hit grand slams in consecutive games since Eddie Perez and Ryan Klesko did it Sept. 16-17, 1997.

May 4: Braves 6, Nationals 1 -- Huascar Ynoa's grand slam
Ynoa picked up the first home run of his career last week on April 28, in a 10-0 win against the Cubs. With the bases loaded Tuesday, Ynoa crushed a 95 mph fastball 427 feet to straightaway center. With the grand slam, Ynoa is the first pitcher since the Braves moved to Atlanta to homer in back-to-back starts, and the first in franchise history to do it since both Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn accomplished the feat in June 1961, when the team still played in Milwaukee.

The last pitcher to hit a grand slam in the Majors came on June 23, 2018, from Anthony DeSclafani, while the last pitcher to homer in back-to-back games came from Steven Matz (Sept. 13, 2018, and Sept. 18, 2018).

May 2: Blue Jays 7, Braves 2 -- Anderson's 2.20 ERA
Despite his ERA rising to 3.27 after Sunday's 7-2 loss, Ian Anderson produced an ERA of 2.20 through his first 11 career starts (which excludes Sunday). Since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966, only one Braves pitcher has produced a lower ERA: Mike Soroka, between 2018 and 2019.

May 1: Blue Jays 6, Braves 5 (10 innings) -- Pache hits 1st slam
In his first game back from injury, Cristian Pache returned in style with a 411-foot grand slam. The blast was Pache’s first career grand slam as well as his first regular-season home run. The Braves’ top prospect hit a solo shot in Game 3 of the 2020 National League Championship Series against the Dodgers.